A bright light, a beacon of hope

The Vaughn K. Walker Memorial Scholarship Fund

by Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta staff

For her 60th birthday, Stephanie Proctor Johnson had one request: No gifts, just donations for the scholarship fund she recently opened to honor her late nephew, Vaughn, who died from COVID complications in 2021.

“We thought there could be no better way than to figure out how to combine our idea for wanting to honor him with her birthday,” her daughter, Alexis Johnson, co-owner of the fund, recalls.

Fun and full of life, Vaughn brought joy to everyone who knew him, she stated. “He was so joyful and loved to be around people. He always had such a light about him.”

But behind his smile, Vaughn fought a private battle: dyslexia. Yet, despite his disability, Vaughn thrived, eventually opening a barber shop and working in real estate.

It’s that spirit of resilience that inspired Alexis and her mother to open the Vaughn K. Walker Memorial Scholarship Fund. At the recommendation of a family friend, they established it at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. “We’re brand new philanthropists,” Alexis commented, “and we’re trying to find a way to fundraise and work amongst family and friends for something like this that was easy to do and understandable. With the guidance of the Community Foundation, it was a perfect start for us.”

The scholarship is open to male students with a minimum 2.7 GPA. “We wanted to focus less on grades and more on the resilience a person had to muster to overcome obstacles. We want to celebrate those who have to go through those things every day and they’re conquering them.”

The Johnsons raised $5,000 through Stephanie’s birthday invitations. Their goal is to raise $25,000 so that they can award five $5,000 scholarships.

“It takes a village—in all ways,” Alexis said. “I feel like we were just so supported by our community overall. And so it’s important for us to figure out ways to give back because of the ways that we were supported.”